Tonight on Impact, the TNA World title will be on the line with Ethan Carter III going for gold against Kurt Angle. Angel was not involved in a match at Slammiversary and timings of this match, which was taped before Slammiversary, didn’t help.
Angle is expected to take a few weeks off to undergo surgery to remove a tumor from his neck although it’s not being classified as a major surgery and Angle is hoping to be able to be back for the next set of tapings. The show will also feature a 30 minute Ironman Match between Dirty Heels vs The Wolves.
Hello, Good Morning, or Good Evening – Wherever you are or wherever you may be – and thanks for checking out Wrestling Online’s Tough Enough recap report.
After a five year absence, WWE’s Tough Enough returned last week on the USA Network with an entirely new format and a cast of 13 hopefuls vying for a WWE contract. Over the course of the next ten-or-so weeks, I’ll be sharing with you an official synopsis of each Tough Enough episode, a brief recap of the Tough Talk after show, and some of my own commentary on the episode.
In order to make this report as easy as possible to follow, I’d suggest heading over to the Tough Enough Cast page and re-familiarizing yourself with some of the participants’ names. With the exception of a few notable competitors, many of them seem to get easily lost.
Welcome to Tough Enough Episode 2!
The show kicks off with Chris Jericho and Renee Young welcoming the audience back and reviewing the rules for the competition. Each week, each judge will nominate one competitor to the bottom three, where the fans will then vote for their favorite. The competitor with the least amount of votes will be kicked off the show, unless one of the judges votes to use their ‘save’ on the competitor, which they can do only once during the season.
Jericho begins to recap the previous week and asks the judges to comment on how they feel about this year’s cast. Daniel Bryan comments on how he credits each of the participants on the sacrifice they’re making to be here and credits them for being the standouts among 11,000+ applicants.
Paige quickly interjects, noting that she thinks all of the competitors are incredibly boring and that they need to start standing out more if they want to win. It’s the first of a number of very abrasive comments from Paige during the night.
Meanwhile, in the Barracks…
We cut to the Tough Enough barracks, where some of the competitors briefly discuss Hank’s departure. While there are no outright negative jabs thrown his way, a few comments are made about how he was the obvious choice to go home first as he was just average.
The conversation quickly turns into a bit of a free-for-all as Gabi takes a shot at Amanda for calling her stupid and un-athletic. While Amanda tries defending herself, Dianna quickly sides with Gabi and the two proceed to bash Amanda, going on about how she doesn’t belong in the competition.
All it takes is one comment from Dianna to set the entire house against her. Dianna is immediately called out on her constant nagging about missing her fiancé. While several of the competitors all pile on, it’s Daria that really steps up and gets in Dianna’s face. Daria ends up dubbing Dianna as “Princess Dianna,” in an effort to describe her very prissy and entitled attitude. The comment irritates Dianna enough that she walks out of the room.
With tempers high and subtle jabs being thrown, Alex ends up calling out Patrick about how he’s constantly calling other people out about their wrestling knowledge. Naturally, Patrick fires back at Alex, which results in arguably the dumbest thing you could possibly say on a wrestling reality show…
Alex argues with Patrick that knowing about the wrestling business is not important. He admits he wasn’t a huge wrestling mark prior to entering Tough Enough and that all the knowledge in the world about the business does nothing for your in-ring ability. If you’ve watched any of part of Tough Enough up this point, you can guess this didn’t sit well with Patrick. He yells back probably the best quote of the week, “if you want something bad enough, you educate yourself on it.” He talks about passion and how learning the business shows that you’re serious about this being your passion.
It was a really great speech by Patrick, who clearly cares a lot about the business. To be honest, the entire argument made Alex look like a complete ass and as if he didn’t care about pro wrestling at all, which I’m sure isn’t entirely the case if he’s gotten to this point.
The Swamp Challenge
For the first competition of the episode, the competitors are taken out to the Florida Swamps. The pan across ZZ’s face was pure gold – as he wore a grin from one ear to the other.
Coaches Booker T, Billy Gunn, and Lita meet the competitors at the swamp and brief them on the dangers of the wildlife before explaining the rules of the competition. For this challenge, each of the participants must swim out in the swamp until they reach an airboat, where they’ll find NXT championship belts. After they get on the airboat and get their belt, they must then swim back to the starting line.
The swim itself was probably about 200 meters each way. While it’s certainly not an impossible swim, it’s definitely a challenge if you’re not used to competitive swimming or just don’t know how to swim at all. Combine that with the fact you’re in thick, murky swamp water and it’s easy to see the obstacles ahead.
As soon as the challenge begins, the camera pans out to what looks like an alligator about 50 yards away from where the competitors are swimming. In the diary commentary that’s intermixed in the race, Dianna comments about how it freaked her out. A few more flashes to the alligator and you can clearly see that it’s fake – but from where the competitors are in the water, I’m not so sure if they’d be 100% confident.
Dianna absolutely annihilates everyone in the swim. She’s the first out to the airboat by a longshot. Almost immediately, Alex, Mada, and Patrick start doggy paddling. By the time the bulk of the cast reach the airboat, Dianna is already getting out of the water and finishing – dominating the entire challenge.
Just as the majority of the cast start getting their belts, the Coaches have to throw a lifevest out to Patrick. Only moments later, one of the lifeguards overseeing the competition actually goes full speed into the water to rescue Alex, who was showing serious signs of swimmer fatigue and looked to be drowning. And while Mada doesn’t look much better, he ends up not requiring any additional assistance.
Back towards land, it’s Tanner, Josh, and ZZ battling to be the first of the guys. Tanner ends up hitting a shallow patch in the water, so he stands up and runs in. ZZ and Josh both scream out that it isn’t fair and ultimately finish behind him. While ZZ brushes it off and is just happy to have done so well, Josh and Tanner get in a bit of a verbal exchange about whether or not Tanner cheated. Josh shoves Tanner, who fires back with a big push. Josh shoves Tanner a second time and the two just back away from each other.
For a moment, it looked like it could’ve escalated a bit more.
As the rest of the competitors start hitting land, Booker T sends in a rescue boat to pick up Mada, Patrick, and Alex. Alex and Mada had rescue tubes to help them get to the airboat in the water and, after reaching it on his own, Mada decided he would not be able to swim back in.
Just as the competition wraps up, Billy Gunn notices that Daria’s belt is missing. We come to learn that it fell off her waist as she was swimming and sunk to the bottom of the lake. Billy Gunn blasts Daria, ripping her apart. He calls her out for not wanting this bad enough and not respecting the business, saying that people fight their entire careers to get their hands on a belt – and when they do, they don’t ever let go of it. Daria bursts out in tears, extremely upset about the whole thing.
Back in the Barracks…
We take a brief cut back to the Tough Enough Barracks, where Josh and Tanner are playing a game of pool with one another, recapping the competition. Josh continues on about how he wasn’t happy he didn’t win the swim for the guys and asks Tanner if he’d admit that he didn’t win fairly. Tanner argues that they were never told how they had to swim back in and he just chose the faster path. He continues to egg on Josh about being a better competitor, which prompts Josh to say to Tanner that they can ‘throw down’ any time he wants.
A similar conversation pops up between Giorgia and Daria, who seem to be bonding quite a bit. Daria talks about how Dianna cheated by running out in the water in a shallow area in the beginning and end of the competition instead of swimming the whole way.
In another part of the Barracks, Gabi and Dianna start forging a new bond of their own, despite being at odds just a week ago. Dianna comments that the reason she thinks they’re getting along so well now is because of how everyone in the house hates them both. Patrick, whose blatantly eavesdropping on the conversation, chimes in and suggests the two girls “kiss and make up so that they can seal their new friendship.” After a bit of lobbying, Dianna laughs it off and leaves the room. Patrick then propositions Gabi by asking her if she’d be okay with kissing him instead.
Roman Reigns Visits Tough Enough & Starts the Second Challenge
Virtually the entire exchange with Roman Reigns, we saw in previews and the special feature videos that WWE put out during the week. Roman gave the group a little bit of a pep talk before introducing Bull Dempsey and showing off Dempsey’s brutal top rope bonsai. The only thing worth noting is how Gabi’s immediate reaction to Roman was that “seeing him got her wet,” which made for some really awkward moments in Tough Talk.
We have a quick cut to the judges, where Paige comments on how impressed she is with Dianna after hating her the week before. Hogan chimes in afterwards, saying that he “doesn’t see courage … he smells fear.”
Back in the ring, we finally see the competitors doing back bumps. The entire segment is more or less a super quick highlight reel. After we see everyone do a bump or two, we find out about the second challenge of the episode – a flat back top rope bump! The coaches make sure to mention that the challenge is completely optional. Lita goes so far as to say that she wouldn’t do it herself, given her history with neck injuries.
Of course, everyone does it.
The coaches rigged a platform up to the top rope to give more stability to the competitors and the ring canvas was more of a giant mat to break the impact. Ultimately, it didn’t look too terribly painful – no more than a standard bump.
Patrick looked by far the most natural and Tanner was called out when he tried to get fancy and out-do Patrick. Patrick ultimately won the entire competition, looking smooth in the ring for the regular bumps and for the “super” bump. Giorgia takes the honors for the best of the girls after Dianna is heavily criticized after taking a terrible top rope bump instead of just admitting she was afraid of heights.
Competition Fallout
We shoot back to the barracks once more before we head to the stage for the live vote. This entire segment was focused around the budding drama between Dianna and Daria. Dianna grows extremely agitated at Daria calling her Princess Dianna and after a scuffle in the kitchen area, goes to vent to Gabi. Daria bursts with Amanda and the four get in a bit of a war of words while the rest of cast sit outside the room with their ears to solo cups pressed to the walls.
Dianna ends up going into ZZ’s room and sweet talking him telling him how cute he is. She asks him to switch rooms with her so that she’s not sleeping with Daria and Amanda and encourages him to fart, snore, and bother them as much as possible. She’s super flirty and so of course, ZZ complies.
The Judges Rule
With the cast reintroduced to the live audience, Jericho turns the floor over to the judges to question some of the competitors. Daniel Bryan brings Alex up and asks him to explain why he thinks knowledge about the business doesn’t mean anything. In a relatively well-though response, Alex says how “knowing all the statistics for a professional sports team doesn’t make you a better player.” He tries to emphasize that he knows about the superstars in the business, just not the “random, regular guys who didn’t make it.” Daniel Bryan seems to accept his answer while Paige fires out, “you’re an idiot.” You’d think the comment was scripted with how perfectly hilariously timed it was.
Bryan argues in defense of Alex that you don’t need to be the biggest wrestling fan all your life for this to be something you eventually become passionate about. Hogan then sides with Paige, saying how you do need to be passionate about the business and you should know about its history.
Most of the rest of the judges’ comments to the cast were forgettable, with the exception of two things. Hogan calls up ZZ to have him explain his comment earlier in the show, where he was talking about how he’s now sleeping in the room with Daria and Amanda and will have to “see if the pie is hot.” The comment itself was completely out of place and made no sense. Nevertheless, Hogan had some fun with ZZ and busted his chops about gimmick infringement, stating that “The Rock is the only expert on pie eating here.” ZZ goes on to clarify his comment by saying “Women are like a nice pie. When they’re too hot, they can really burn you. When they’re cool, they can be really sweet.” Needless to say, ZZ got a big “aww” moment from all the women in the building.
The second notable moment was when Paige called up Amanda and Sara Lee to the stage and called them out on behind bland, forgettable, and not really even remembering their names. Up until this point, this was the only time in the entire episode that Sara Lee’s name was mentioned (when she wasn’t being introduced on stage) or that she appeared on screen in anything that wasn’t a shot of the whole group.
The judges make their selections for the bottom three:
Daniel Bryan selects Alex for not knowing about the business and downplaying its importance (oddly, considering how he defended Alex earlier)
Paige selects Sara Lee for having no personality. She also takes a jab at Sara Lee, saying that the only reason she even remembers her name is because it’s the same name as a cheesecake
Hulk Hogan nominates Dianna for her actions and words always contradicting themselves (she claimed she was afraid of the water, then says she was on the swim team; she claimed to not be afraid of heights but couldn’t take a top rope bump)
The voting process begins and after the commercial break, Jericho checks in to see if any of the judges want to use their once-a-season save. To which – none do.
With an overwhelming 55% of the fan vote, Sara Lee comes out on top. Dianna is barely able to edge out Alex, who becomes the second competitor to be booted from the show.
Assorted Musings
It’s a shame that Dianna is so hated in the house. She’s a beautiful girl, a tremendous athlete, and looks extremely comfortable on the microphone. The way she’s portrayed in the show, however, leads me to believe that she’s going to have a very hard time getting enough fan support to stick around should she fall into the bottom three again
Patrick looked like an absolute stud in the few bits of actual wrestling we saw. His bumps looked incredibly smooth and fluid. His passion for the business is so clear in everything he does – I’d be shocked if he didn’t make it to the finals.
I feel bad for Sara Lee. She’s cute and quirky and a far cry from a lot of the Divas that are on the roster already. Her personality, to me, is similar to what we saw from former Diva Kaitlyn early on when she was on NXT. Sara Lee does a fairly good job showing her personality off on Periscope, Twitter, and Instagram. But the fact she’s not tangled up in the drama really just makes her an afterthought on the show. I literally forgot she was still on it until she appeared in a group shot during the Roman Reigns bit.
I’m still not totally satisfied with the format of the show. This week had a bit more time allotted to the actual cast (maybe 30 total minutes out of a possible 42). But still, we’re not seeing any wrestling and the little we do see is blazed through. Even the challenges are shown abbreviated. It’s very clear the producers are trying to manufacture drama. It’s even clearer when you see how well they all get along on their Periscope live streams.
Paige is feisty! She’s clearly the Simon Cowell of this show, holding nothing back when it comes to criticism. You can clearly tell she had a long, hard journey to get where she is and she’s not remotely about to let someone disrespect the business.
Tough Talk Highlights
Miz gave Alex a few minutes to further explain his comment about wrestling history not being important. I did feel a little bad for Alex, as he did have a point. Just because you can name the 18th entrant in the 9th Royal Rumble doesn’t mean you’re going to be better at taking a bump. Unfortunately, he was consumed by the argument with Patrick that he made himself look foolish.
Side note: Can anyone tell me who the 18th entrant in the 9th Royal Rumble was? Tweet your answers to @suggafnshane or leave your comments below!
After Alex is off the stage, Daniel Bryan expresses his sympathy for nominating Alex and then him going home. He says he feels bad because each of the competitors have sacrificed a lot to be here. Paige is quick to remind Bryan that each and every one of them sacrificed something to be there and continue to make sacrifices. That’s what the business is about. Paige was on fire tonight!
Miz brings Daria up and pours a little more fuel on the fire with her and Dianna. But afterwards, he parlays the conversation into Daria losing her NXT belt in the water. He gives Daria a chance to explain herself and then announces that they had professional divers go and recover the belt. Miz brings it out on stage and then gives an incredibly passionate speech about how all the people that have come before her have bled for the title and it’s the most incredible sign of disrespect to let the belt out of your sight for a single second. He gives the belt to Paige, who says she’ll give it back when Daria earns it.
Daniel Bryan, the saint of the judges, chimes back in on Daria’s defense. He says that he doesn’t think it’s right that Mada or Alex still got their belts after the challenge and they didn’t even finish. Paige fires back again, saying that Daria had her hands on the belt and she lost it. That’s worse than not having your hands on it at all.
Tough Talk got REALLY uncomfortable when Miz brought Gabi back up on stage and asked her to reiterate what she said about Roman Reigns. Miz finds that Gabi’s husband is in the crowd and then proceeds to walk up to him and ask him, to his face, how he feels about Gabi saying “she got wet” at the sight of Roman. The husband gives a pretty stock, respectable answer about how “she’s married to him, she comes home to him, and she sleeps with him,” to which Paige jumps in and says “she apparently wears the trousers, too.” That got a big pop from the crowd and turned the husband’s face the color of a fresh tomato. Miz continues to egg on the husband and asks, “What are you going to do if she wins this competition and she’s on the road 300 days a year with a locker room full of guys who look just as good as Roman.” The husband laughs it off and continues to reiterate that they are faithful and have a commitment to each other.
Miz heads back on stage and just before he’s about to let Gabi go, Daniel Bryan shockingly stops her to ask one more question. Daniel asks Gabi to remind the audience how many times she’s been married (3) and then makes a comment questioning how faithful she’d really be if she won the competition, based on her comments about seeing Roman. The camera man did a quick cut to the husband, who looked incredibly embarrassed.
Just before the show wraps up, Miz brings up Giorgia to the stage and gives her a few loaded questions, trying to stir some conflict with Sara Lee. Sara comes to the stage and the two have a cute, giggly exchange where they attempt to make jabs. They’re both far too nice of girls to even try to be mean. Unfortunately, it followed Paige’s rant about how she doesn’t buy the b/s about “not causing drama” and thinks you should be trying to stand out in any way possible at all times.
If you haven’t seen Tough Talk yet, I’d highly suggest checking it out. I’ve found it to be much more enjoyable than the actual show and I think it’s because we really get to know the cast members on a more personal level. The Miz is not afraid to ask anything!
—–
That’ll wrap up this week’s recap. What’d you think about this week’s episode? Who do you see taking the lead as this year’s favorite to win? Are you enjoying the new, more interactive format?
SMOSH has teamed up with WWE for Every [Wrestler] Ever, the newest episode of their “Every [Blank] Ever” series that satirizes pop culture.
In this video, WWE Superstars Seth Rollins, Xavier Woods, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, WWE Diva Paige, and Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan appear along others from SMOSH who try to imitate WWE Superstars. Rollins, Woods, Bryan, and Paige even try to to some impersonations of their own.
“We apologize in advance to all wrestling fans we’re about to offend,” the video says at the start. You can see it below.
Every [Blank] Ever’s first three episodes, Every [Instagram] Ever, Every [Party] Ever, and Every [Game of Thrones] Ever have reached over 10 million views total since debuting.
The UFC and Reebok today released UFC Fight Kits during a press conference in New York City. These apparel will be worn by all UFC fighters and are mandatory during UFC events.
CM Punk also got his Reebok jersey despite not even making his UFC debut. It was a smart move from both UFC and Reebok considering the large fanbase Punk has and a lot of money can be made from such apparel.
However the name CM Punk is not being used on these jerseys as the company opted to use his real name Philip Brooks. The front of the black jersey has the UFC logo in blue and the Reebok red logo over a white section. One of the sleeves is also white which has a red Octagon. The back has the UFC logo on the neck and Philip Brooks written on the side. It will set you back $95 if you want to order one.
Roman Reigns will be making a special appearance on tonight’s Tough Enough as the competition enters its second week with 12 hopefuls remaining.
The first episode of the season did little to show viewers what it takes to be a wrestler with the second show hopefully tackling some in-ring training. Several WWE Superstars and Divas will appear throughout the series to help the Tough Enough hopefuls in the competition.
This week’s episode was taped throughout the past week – as will be the case going forward – with the live portion of the show taking on the elimination part.
USA Network added a two hour Raw replay as the lead-in to Tough Enough after the disappointing ratings the show pulled in last week.
WWE Superstars and Divas will be traveling to the Far East today for three events – one in Singapore and two in Japan.
The tour starts on July 2 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and then it continues on July 3 and 4 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo for two back to back shows. The July 4 show will be broadcast live on the WWE Network and will feature Brock Lesnar’s return to the ring since WrestleMania and the NXT title will be on the line as Kevin Owens defends the championship against Finn Balor.
Those going on tour include John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, King Barrett, Kane, The New Day, Cesaro, Lucha Dragons, Neville, Paige, Bella Twins, and others.
With The Authority back in full-force, it appears as Brock Lesnar has to watch his back. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Joey Mercury, and Director Of Operations Kane all laid a beat-down on the #1 Contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion last week on Raw; how will “The Beast Incarnate” and his advocate, Paul Heyman, respond tonight?
Speaking of responses, no Diva has stepped up to help out Paige in her battle against Divas Champion Nikki Bella and her sister Brie. Will this change tonight and/or will Paige even be in attendance? As, Intercontinental Champion Ryback is embroiled with The Big Show and The Miz over said title; they will square off in a triple threat match at Battleground. Who antagonizes who tonight?
Lastly, Bray Wyatt has been playing very creepy mind-games with Roman Reigns, even involving his family. Will Reigns retaliate tonight and how, or does Wyatt escape him again and further intimidate his Battleground opponent?
All this and much more, so read on!
Monday Night Raw TV Report for June 29th, 2015 – “Rollin(s)’ On”
Introduction Segment: Video Promo
Recap of last week’s Raw featuring The Authority’s swerve and attack on Brock Lesnar is shown.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ music hits to kick off Raw and he walks to the ring with Director Of Operations Kane, Jamie Noble, and Joey Mercury in tow; he boasts about their strike on Lesnar. Rollins moves on to Noble, who he calls his “mentor and hero,” as he still showed up tonight despite suffering broken ribs from Lesnar chucking him into the barricade last week.
For their efforts, Seth rewards the trio with new Apple Watches and a Cadillac car for J & J; Kane also receives a vacation to Hawaii, but first, he and Rollins will tag together to face Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in tonight’s main-event.
They are all celebrating by the car at the side of the stage when The Big Show makes his entrance; he will take on Mark Henry, next!
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – The Big Show VS. “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry
(Note: The Miz is on commentary.) Show boots Henry right away, then rapidly punches him in the corner. He attempts a chokeslam, but Mark shoves him off and head butts him to the mat. He splashes Show for a two-count, but Big makes a comeback and hits the Knockout Punch for the surprisingly quick victory!
Winner via Pinfall: The Big Show
Post-match, Intercontinental Champion Ryback marches down and brawls with Show until The Miz sneak-attacks Ryback with a boot. As Miz is on the stage, Ryback takes the microphone and demands to wrestle Miz now!
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Match #2: Single – The Miz VS. Intercontinental Champion “The Big Guy” Ryback (Non-Title)
Miz runs around but gets caught in a Lou Thesz Press and slam. Ryback slugs away on Miz , then carries him to the corner. Miz jawbreaks Ryback using the ropes, but is grabbed off a run and dropped after a long, long, stalling-marching-suplex!
Miz tries to escape, but goads Ryback in the ring and DDT’s him for a near-fall! He continues to work over Ryback and drops him with a neckbreaker for two! He kicks Ryback hard twice, but “The Big Guy” turns it around and gains momentum with a spinebuster. He winds up for the Meathook Clothesline, but Miz backs away and high-tails it up the ramp. The referee stops the count at four, as he presumes Miz is not finishing the bout.
Winner via Count-Out: Intercontinental Champion “The Big Guy” Ryback
Commercials.
Match #3: Single – Paige VS. Alicia Fox (with Divas Champion Nikki Bella and Brie Bella)
They lock up, with Paige snapmaring Alicia and trapping her in an armlock. Fox hits back with a fierce forearm, but is put to the mat with a Lou Thesz Press by Paige. Nikki and Brie yell at Paige, which allows Alicia to take control.
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Fox is still dominating, almost taking this one with a Northern-Lights suplex pin. She runs at Paige in the corner, but misses, however hits back hard and wears Paige down with a grounding side headlock. Fox plants Paige with a tilt-a-whirl move, and just about wins! She drags Paige to the middle of the ring and elbows her off a short Irish Whip. Paige reverses another headlock with another snapmare, then knees her in the corner. She clotheslines her a couple times, and takes a slug at Nikki who hopped the apron. Alicia rolls Paige from behind, but Paige reverses for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall: Paige
John Cena’s music plays and the United States Champion comes out for his U.S. Open Challenge, which will be next!
Commercials.
Match #4: Single for the United States Championship – John Cena (Champion) VS. ???
The man to answer Cena’s challenge is….
NXT Champion Kevin Owens! His recent rival walks out and it appears it will actually happen. Lillian Garcia makes formal introductions, but then Kevin walks out to the timekeeper’s area and takes a microphone. “On second thought, I’ll just wait for Battleground.” Owens then introduces Cena’s other opponent, Cesaro!
Cesaro makes his entrance and they actually lock up, making this match official. Cesaro works Cena with a waistlock, which John breaks out and turns into a standing side headlock. Cesaro whips him off the ropes, and Cena turns a hip-toss into a monkey-flip!
Cena runs off the ropes but is powerslammed for two! Cesaro clamps on a front-facelock, then gives John a gutwrench suplex. He rips at Cena with a face-stretch, but Cena rolls over into a pin for a near-fall! Cesaro continues to dominate by pounding away and diving off the middle turnbuckle with a fistdrop!
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Cesaro tries for a Sharpshooter, but Cena shoves him off and begins a comeback. The U.S. Champ plants Cesaro with a spin-out backdrop and signals for the 5-Knuckle Shuffle Fistdrop, but Cesaro hits a hard clothesline instead. Cena manages a sloppy Springboard Stunner, but only gets two! He goes for the Attitude Adjustment, but Cesaro lands on his feet and knocks Cena town with a Flapjack-Uppercut! 1 – 2 – Cena raises his shoulder! John gets Cesaro into the S.T.F, but Cesaro reverses directly into The Sharpshooter! Cena crawls and clutches the ropes for a break!
Cesaro sets up John and suplexes him from the apron to the ring! 1 – 2 – Cena still kicks out! Cesaro runs at Cena in the corner with an uppercut, but is booted and Tornado-DDT out of the other corner! 1 – 2 – Cesaro also gets his shoulder up!
They both punch away, then Cena whips Cesaro into the ropes, only for Cesaro to flip over and land on his feet on the apron! Cesaro climbs the turnbuckle and rockets off with a crossbody, but Cena rolls through into a tilt-a-whirl sideslam! As Cena is perched on the top turnbuckle, Owens gets up and faces the announce table. This distracted Cena enough for Cesaro to dropkick him off. He hits Cena with a running uppercut against the corner barricade, and gets a near-fall back in the ring.
Cena plants Cesaro with a sunset-flip powerbomb, then Cesaro rushes Cena with uppercuts. He locks on another Sharpshooter, but this time Kevin Owens jumps in the ring and attacks, causing a dq.
Winner via Disqualification and STILL United States Champion: John Cena
Post-match, Owens delivers Pop-Up powerbombs to both Cesaro and Cena, then declares that it will only be him to take away the U.S. Championship at Battleground.
Commercials.
Segment #3: Video Promo
Bray Wyatt is holding a picture of Roman Reigns, who has his eyes and mouth cut out. “Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns. You know, life ain’t always fair man. For instance, I always thought I should’ve been my father’s favorite. Instead, he just through me away like a piece of trash. But now, it’s different. I’m away, and look daddy, I got my wings back! And who is it that deserves all that you have? Anyone but you, anyone but you. you know what I stand for and you know all the horrible things that I am capable of. This is about you and me, and the insects that watch us every week are inconsequential. I am the yang to your yang; I am the darkness to your light. You’ll never succeed, I’ll never let you. Anyone but you, anyone but you. RUN!”
The Lucha Dragons make their entrance, and will be paired with Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players to face The New Day and Bo Dallas, next!
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Match #5: Eight-Man Tag-Team – The Lucha Dragons (Calisto and Sin Cara) and Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players (“The Big Deal” Titus O’Neil and “Mr. No Days Off” Darren Young) VS. The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E.) and “The Inspirational” Bo Dallas
Woods and Calisto begin, with Calisto getting the better along with his partner Cara. Dallas is now in, as is Young, who also gets the better of Bo. Calisto back in, but Dallas capitalizes and works him over with repeated knees and a grounding headlock. This bout breaks down a little, with the teams facing each other on the outside.
Commercials.
Big E. and Sin Cara are now wrestling, with Cara flipping all over E. New Day and Dallas regain control, all mudhole-stomping Young in their corner. Dallas back in and grounds Young with a chinlock. They knock into each other, with allows Young to get the hot-tag to his champion partner, Titus! He is all over Kingston and then the match breaks down again. The Luchas and O’Neil clean house, and O’Neil takes this one for his teams after caching and planting Kofi with a sit-down spinebuster!
Winners via Pinfall: The Lucha Dragons (Calisto and Sin Cara) and Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players (“The Big Deal” Titus O’Neil and “Mr. No Days Off” Darren Young)
Up next, Dolph Ziggler and Lana will be “going public.”
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Segment #4: Arena Promo
“The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler and Lana walk to the ring; they then inform us about their romantic relationship. Rusev interrupts and has Summer Rae join him. They both berate Lana for her choice to side with Zggler when Rusev got injured; then Summer slaps Lana, who responds with a full-on takedown and a catfight ensues.
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Dean Ambrose is talking to two Terminator statues (a subtle plug for the upcoming Terminator movie) when Roman Reigns walks in.
Commercials.
Match #6: Single – Neville/Sheamus
Neville has a wristlock on Sheamus, which he turns into a hammerlock, using the corner for leverage. Sheamus takes Neville down with a side headlock, but Neville flips from corner-to-corner and gives Sheamus a hurricanrana. He tries a second, but Sheamus tries to counter, however he is dumped to the outside. Neville goes to follow with a dive, but Sheamus moves to the commentator’s area for a break.
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Sheamus slaps Neville a couple times, and catches him off a springboard from the top rope, into a fireman’s carry rolling senton. He works over Neville with a grounding rear chinlock, then pounds away in the corner with punches and kicks. Neville hits a kick-to-the-chin to counter, but is driven into Sheamus’ knee three times with the Irish Curse Backbreaker.
Sheamus tries a backdrop, but Neville flips out of it. He hits a few forearm smashes and kicks, then jumps over him and pulls down the ropes which sends Sheamus tumbling to the floor. Neville follows up with a springboard-moonsault to the outside! Neville hits a springboard-front-dropkick from the top rope into the ring and gets a two-count!
Sheamus runs at Neville in the corner, but misses and is kicked hard. Neville ascends the top turnbuckle, but is dropped when Sheamus kicks the ropes. “The Celtic Warrior” goes for a Brogue Kick, but Neville reverses into a roll-up, which Neville used his back, but only for two! Sheamus goes for another Brogue Kick and nails it this time to take this one!
Winner via Pinfall: “Mr. Money In The Bank,” “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus
Commercials.
Match #7: Single – “The Real American” Jack Swagger VS. King Barrett
Barrett finishes this sub-par match rather quickly with The Bullhammer after tripping Swagger into the middle turnbuckle.
Winner via Pinfall: King Barrett
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Match #8: Tag-Team (No Disqualification Rules) – Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose VS. Director Of Operations Kane and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins (with J & J Security) (Non-Title)
All four begin punching at each other, then Ambrose and Reigns double-suplex Kane. Ambrose is pushed off the top turnbuckle by Seth, then Kane boots Reigns down. Rollins throws Dean into the corner barricade prior to the break.
Commercials.
Kane is now punishing Roman until Reigns counters and puts Kane on the canvas. He makes the hot-tag to Dean, who takes out both Kane and Rollins. He dives off the top turnbuckle to the outside on Kane and Rollins, then has to dispose of Mercury. He eyes Noble, but Jamie backs away and Seth interjects. Ambrose looks under the ring and pulls out a table to the delight of the Washington fans.
Noble and Mercury yank the table from the ring, allowing Rollins to roll-up Dean for a two-count. Reigns is back in and powerbombs Rollins, then hits a flying forearm on Kane. Mercury tries to hurt Roman by hitting him with a kendo stick, but it has no effect and just fires up Reigns, who hits everyone with Superman Punches. As he gears up for a Spear, Bray Wyatt shows up and demolishes Roman. This leaves Ambrose, who falls to four-on-one and a Pedigree by Rollins for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: Director Of Operations Kane and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins (with J & J Security)
Post-match, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion orders Noble and Mercury to setup the table against the corner. They and Kane then go to put Dean in a powerbomb position, but Reigns breaks it up. Kane eventually Chokeslams Roman, then Rollins and Kane yell at him. Reigns regains and fights back. The four then surround the ring and maul Reigns again, constantly brawling. Kane Chokeslams him again, then Seth barks to “get his ass up.” He manages to powerbomb Roman through the table, and then sets up for a Pedigree. He drives him face-first into the mat, then stands over with his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Kane, Mercury, Noble, and Rollins walk away as Bray Wyatt comes back. He spins Reigns around with Sister Abigail and laughs to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
Another really well-done Raw! This was action-packed and moved along nicely; only a few duds. Onto the particulars:
Excellence: Ryback/Miz, Paige/Fox, Cena/Cesaro, Neville/Sheamus, and Kane/Rollins/Ambrose/Reigns – these were very well-wrestled matches (especially Cesaro/Cena) and kept my thorough attention. Further, that was a very impressive suplex by Ryback and he continues to step it up every week.
Loving the feuds of Owens/Cena and Reigns/Wyatt for their mind-games; as well, Seth Rollins is at the top of his game right now as WWE World Heavyweight Champion and is carrying this new-born feud with Lesnar very well.
Bogus: Show/Henry, the Eight-Man Tag, and Barrett/Swagger – these could’ve been more (Show/Henry) or not at all (Eight-Man and Swagger/Barrett) and did nothing for me. I would’ve liked to see Dragons/New Day square off instead of the repeat Smackdown! match.
It was nice to see Paige back, but I think she should’ve lost to build up Fox’s recent turn, and to continue to put in question anyone willing to stand with her against The Bellas.
After last week’s pretty-good heel promo, I was surprised and disappointed that Adam Rose was not used. I think he can be a good baddy for a while with Rosa. Also, I am liking the Lana/Ziggler and Summer/Rusev feud, but felt that their verbals were a little too predictable and kind of bland.
Overall, I really enjoyed this Raw and am looking forward to another great edition next week! Until then, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
Current U.S. title holder John Cena has been nominated for the inaugural Sports Humanitarian of the Year Awards, presented by ESPN and PlayStation.
The awards will celebrate and honor athletes, teams, nonprofits and members of the sports industry for using sport to serve communities and make a positive impact on society. The event, which will take place Tuesday, July 14 at the Conga Room at L.A. Live, will be the first of its kind, bringing together the leagues and sporting community to pay tribute to the collective good of sports. Laila Ali will be hosting the ceremony.
The Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award is given to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a positive impact on their community through sports. The honoree will receive a $75,000 grant (and $25,000 grant for each of the three finalists) from ESPN’s Corporate Citizenship department to advance the impact of the charity related to the award-winning humanitarian efforts.
John Cena is nominated with Anquan Boldin from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Tamika Catchings of WNBA’s Indiana Fever, and Henrik Lundqvist from NHL’s New York Rangers. An independent panel of judges selected the finalists.
Meanwhile WWE’s community relations department is also nominated for the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year. The winner will receive a $75,000 grant (and $25,000 grant for each of the three finalists) from ESPN to the qualified charity related to the award-winning humanitarian efforts.
WWE is nominated along with the Chicago Bulls, Portland Timbers, and San Francisco 49ers.
As of today, James Storm, Magnus, and Austin Aries are no longer under a TNA contract and are free to pursue other promotions.
PWInsider.com is reporting that TNA is somewhat changing the way they are operating, keeping only their big stars under exclusive deals while letting others work with them on short term deals. With TNA not doing live events but only television tapings, many under contract are not getting as much money so that is why TNA is allowing them to wrestle for other promotions and use them when needed.
The three will probably be asked to perform in the upcoming set of tapings in July although now they are in a position to turn down the offer if they have a better deal from someone else on the same dates. TNA has already taped a month and a half worth of Impact shows over the last week so you will still be seeing them on television.
On Thursday, July 2, WWE Network will air a Finn Balor special in anticipation for his NXT title match against Kevin Owens in Japan on July 4.
Titled Finn Balor: The Demon Revealed, the synopsis for the show reads, “An in depth look inside the life, career and future of NXT Superstar Finn Balor.” It will start at 10:30PM EST and will run for 30 minutes.
Balor vs Owens for the NXT title will be one of the matches featured on the special WWE Network presentation of the WWE live event in Tokyo, Japan. It will air live around the world and in the United States it will be in the early hours of the morning on Independence Day.
In an interview with the Boston Herald, Dolph Ziggler said that he wants to finish his career in WWE.
Ziggler recently re-signed with the WWE penning a multi-year deal following months of speculation that he was going to leave the company as he was unhappy with the way things were going for him.
”I mean, it feels like I started here, I should end my career in the WWE,” he said. “I feel like they like having me around and I love working here, so it would be really hard to walk away.”
Maybe making out with Lana every week did eventually change his mind!
Ziggler has been one of the most consistent wrestlers over the past years however he hasn’t had much luck when it comes with the big title. Several concussion issues cut his last title reign short.
Here are the results from last night’s Slammiversary pay-per-view which took place from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Tigre Uno defeated Manik and DJ X in a three way elimination match to retain the X Division title; Robbie E defeated Jessie Godderz; Bram defeated Matt Morgan in a street fight; Austin Aries defeated Davey Richards; Awesome Kong and Brooke defeated The Dollhouse in a 3 on 2 handicap match; James Storm defeated Magnus in a non-sanctioned match; Ethan Carter III and Tyrus defeated Lashley and Mr. Anderson; Jeff Jarrett defeated Matt Hardy, Eric Young, Drew Galloway, and Bobby Roode to win the King of the Mountain championship.
Awesome Kong and Taryn Terrell, the two TNA Knockouts who have been reported that they will be departing the company after tonight’s Slammiversary, are saying otherwise in separate posts on their Twitter accounts.
“Contrary to rumors, @IMPACTWRESTLING and I will ring in the new year together & I’ll ‘deck the halls’ of anyone who says otherwise,” wrote Awesome Kong, adding the hashtag #staying at the end.
Three minutes after that tweet, Taryn Terrell also posted her thoughts on the news. “Stop making up rumors Internet! I just started playing!! I’m not going ANYWHERE,” she wrote.
The two already taped weeks worth of Impact that will air over the next month and a half.
Meanwhile, TNA’s Bob Ryder also disputed the news which were initially reported by the Wrestling Observer, saying neither of their contracts are up “for several months.”
The mass exodus from TNA Wrestling continues as James Storm, Austin Aries, Awesome Kong and Taryn Terrell are the latest individuals whose contracts have expired and are leaving TNA after tonight’s show according to a story on the Wrestling Observer.
Some of them will be appearing on Impact in the weeks to come as TNA has already taped a month and a half worth of shows over the past four days at Universal Studios.
James Storm is one of the TNA originals and started with TNA in June 2002. He is one of the most successful wrestlers in the company having won the TNA World Heavyweight title, the World Tag Team titles on six different occasions, and the NWA World Tag Team titles seven different times. He is one of the longest serving TNA wrestlers.
Austin Aries made his TNA debut in 2005 but left two years later, only to return in 2011 again. He is also a former TNA World Heavyweight champion and won the World Tag Team and X Division titles as well, with six different reigns with the X Division championship.
Awesome Kong arrived in TNA in 2007 and left in 2009 for a very short WWE stint. She returned to TNA earlier this year when Impact made its debut on Destination America. She won the TNA Knockouts title twice and is also a former Knockouts Tag Team champion.
Taryn Terrell joined TNA in 2012 after a three year WWE career wrestling under the name Tiffany. She was introduced as the official referee for the Knockouts division but later transitioned into wrestling as well. She is also a former TNA Knockouts champion.
Live tonight from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, TNA presents Slammiversary XIII on pay-per-view. The full card is as follows:
Jeff Jarrett vs Matt Hardy vs Eric Young vs Drew Galloway vs Bobby Roode in a King of the Mountain match to determine the first TNA King of the Mountain champion; James Storm vs Magnus; Jessie Godderz vs Robbie E; Ethan Carter III and Tyrus vs Lashley and Mr. Anderson; Bram vs Matt Morgan; The Dollhouse vs Awesome Kong and Brooke in a 3 on 2 handicap match; and Davey Richards vs Austin Aries.
This is TNA’s first pay-per-view live event of 2015.
Chris Jericho was part of the Boston non-televised live WWE event yesterday and obviously knew what was going to happen with The Rock.
The Tough Enough host started his Periscope and was broadcasting live the part where Bo Dallas was running down the audience, with the title of his live feed reading, “Gotta little surprise for u…”
The comments from those watching Jericho’s broadcast suggested they were not impressed considering that he wrote he has a surprise for them…until The Rock’s music hit and they all went bananas.
At the end Jericho turned his cell phone around and said that that is why you should always go to house shows because you never know what is going to happen! You can see Jericho’s Periscope feed of this particular segment at https://t.co/0YKtHJpmh8.
Meanwhile The Rock wrote on his Instagram that there’s no greater feeling than completely surprising his WWE Universe family by showing up unannounced at a live event.
Jeff Jarrett was announced as the newest inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame during one of the Impact tapings held over the weekend in Orlando, Florida.
Originally, AJ Styles was contacted about being this year’s inductee but he refused due to other commitments in Japan. This left TNA scrambling to find a suitable name to be inducted this year.
Jeff Jarrett co-founded TNA with his father in June 2002, a year after WCW closed up shop. Later that year, Panda Energy, owned by Dixie’s father, acquired a majority interest in TNA and Jarrett remained a minority owner to this day.
Jarrett was involved with TNA from the very first day until he announced his resignation in December 2013. His resignation came in effect on January 6, 2014.
Dixie Carter and Mike Tenay did the honors for Jarrett.
Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a surprise appearance at a non-televised live event in Boston last night.
The Rock is currently in the city filming his latest movie Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart and took some time off his busy schedule to visit his old friends and electrify the thousands….and thousands inside the TD Garden.
Johnson came out filming his entrance on his cell phone and then saluted the fans from the top of the entrance before walking down the ramp to confront Bo Dallas.
The whole 18 minute hilarious segment between Rock and Dallas was filmed by WWE and uploaded online. It obviously ended with a Rock Bottom and a People’s Elbow. You can see it below.
The 28 year old former TNA World Heavyweight champion Magnus is leaving TNA after opting not to sign a new contract which expires in a matter of days.
Magnus, who is from England, started his TNA career in late 2008 and has been part of the company ever since, being part of the British Invasion, New Main Event Mafia, and eventually shining as a solo winning the TNA World title in 2013.
He will be participating in the upcoming Global Force Wrestling television tapings although he will be taking indy bookings as well. He will be wrestling at tomorrow’s Slammiversary pay-per-view against James Storm.
Magnus, real name Nick Aldis, is engaged with Mickie James and the two have a son together.
The USA Network website is listing a two hour version of Monday Night Raw airing on Tuesday at 6PM to serve as the lead in for the new episode of Tough Enough.
Ratings for the first episode of the new season of Tough Enough were very disappointing, getting just over 1.2 million viewers and a 0.4 rating in the much sought-after 18-49 demographic.
The last season of Tough Enough in 2011 with Steve Austin as the host used to draw around 2.5 million viewers per episode when it served as the lead in to Monday Night Raw.
The USA Network schedule on the website only lists programs for a week in advance so it’s not known if this will be a recurring thing or just a one time deal.
